New Delhi: India has launched Operation Sindoor, a series of missile strikes on nine targets across Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The explosions were so powerful they woke up residents, and the strikes were a direct response to the deadly militant attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam last month. India claims it has evidence implicating Pakistan-based terrorists in the attack, although Pakistan denies any involvement.
Pakistan, in retaliation, says it has targeted six Indian locations and claims to have downed five Indian fighter jets, a statement that India has yet to confirm.
नेस्तनाबूद के 9 सबूत! #OperationSindoor pic.twitter.com/4vvvqmP339
— BJP (@BJP4India) May 7, 2025
Additionally, India reports that at least 10 civilians were killed by Pakistani shelling along the Line of Control, while Pakistan states that 26 people have been killed and 46 injured due to Indian air strikes and shelling.
The escalation between these nuclear-armed nations is the latest chapter in a bitter conflict that has centered on Kashmir for decades. Tensions erupted into violence after the militant assault, pushing the region to the brink of war.
The Srinagar area in Indian-administered Kashmir has been placed under lockdown, with civilian flights suspended and the airport now restricted to military use only. Srinagar’s streets, typically filled with tourists and travelers, lie eerily empty.
A long history of conflict
Since the 1947 partition, India and Pakistan have fought several wars, primarily over Kashmir. Their first war ended with a 1949 UN-brokered ceasefire, dividing Kashmir but leaving both nations claiming it in full.
Subsequent wars occurred in 1965, 1971, and the 1999 Kargil conflict, where Pakistani forces infiltrated Indian-administered Kashmir, marking the first major military clash between the two nuclear-armed countries, sparking widespread international concern.
In recent years, tensions have flared following attacks on Indian soil, prompting retaliatory surgical strikes by India in 2016 and airstrikes in 2019 near Balakot, Pakistan, following the Pulwama bombing. Pakistan responded with air incursions of its own, escalating the situation to one of the most perilous moments since the Kargil War.
With the launch of Operation Sindoor, both sides seem intent on asserting their military strength, but the consequences could be dire, pushing the region toward a broader conflict. The international community is now calling for urgent diplomatic intervention to avoid further escalation and prevent an all-out war.
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